White Cap brings great cocktails and surfer vibe to the...

Head bartender Carlos Yturria (left) and owner Matt Lopez at White Cap in the Outer Sunset.

Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

2 of 11

Carlos Yturria, a 2008 Chronicle Bar Star, pours a drink at the new White Cap on Taraval in the Outer Sunset.

Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

3 of 11

Head bartender Carlos Yturria behind the bar at White Cap in the Outer Sunset.

Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

4 of 11

The Screwdriver at White Cap in the Outer Sunset.

Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

5 of 11

The Cat’s Paw cocktail at the White Cap cocktail bar in the Outer Sunset.

Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

6 of 11

Bartender Carlos Yturria at the bar at the White Cap in the Outer Sunset.

Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

7 of 11

Murphy Manhattan cocktail at the White Cap in the Outer Sunset.

Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

8 of 11

The bar at the White Cap.

Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

9 of 11

A fireplace in the lounge area at White Cap cocktail bar in the Outer Sunset.

Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

10 of 11

The lounge at the White Cap cocktail bar in the Outer Sunset.

Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

11 of 11

The White Cap on Taraval near Ocean Beach.

Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

The Outer Sunset is full of surprises. It’s quiet and hazy and monochromatic, until it isn’t. Like when, in the midst of silent residential blocks, you come upon the line of chattering, hungry people waiting outside Old Mandarin Islamic Restaurant. Or the colorful Tunnel Records shop punctuating a stretch of gray streets otherwise subsumed by fog.

The latest surprise in the Outer Sunset is White Cap, the new pseudo-surf bar featuring the reliably excellent bartending of Carlos Yturria. Just two blocks from the ocean and named for the waves, White Cap seems poised to become a haunt for the denizens of Ocean Beach.

On the surface, White Cap reads as a familiar story: fancy newcomer bringing more traffic, more buzz and higher prices to the Outside Lands. (See also: Outerlands, Hook Fish Co., the General Store.) Part of that narrative is true. And perhaps White Cap’s $12 cocktails do not belong in the same neighborhood as the Bashful Bull Too diner next door, where a glass of wine costs $2.95. (Full carafe: $8.50.)

But there’s more than that to the story of White Cap.

“I’ve lived in San Francisco 21 years, and these guys still don’t consider me a local,” says Yturria, behind the bar on a recent weeknight. By “these guys” he means the surfers of the Outer Sunset — including avid surfer Matt Lopez, who happens to be White Cap’s owner.

The Monkey Wrench at White Cap in the Outer Sunset.

Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

Yturria is a surfer, too. If he’s lacking in Lopez’s local credentials, as a bartender he’s as bona fide as they come: a Chronicle Bar Star, a partner in the Financial District bar the Treasury and a co-owner of the Mission’s soon-to-open Beehive, set in the former Range.

Out here at White Cap, those downtown qualifications seem to matter a little less. Making small talk from behind the bar, Yturria speaks with a surfer’s cadence. “Man” inflects the end of every sentence. Like his speech, his cocktails and his service style enact the imperturbable feeling of this neighborhood. Tonight he mostly appears to be nonchalantly polishing glasses, belying his reputation as one of this city’s highest-profile bartenders.

White Cap’s cocktail menu, at least for the moment, is tool-themed: Drinks are named, for example, after a drill press, a monkey wrench and — of course — a screwdriver. “We just came up with something random,” Yturria says, with what feels like refreshing candor. An early idea had been to name drinks after neighborhood dogs, but as he points out, Trick Dog already did that.

The bar at the White Cap cocktail bar in the Outer Sunset.

Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

Under normal circumstances, it’s safe to say, I would never order a screwdriver in a bar, but then the White Cap screwdriver isn’t really a screwdriver. Its dominant flavor is of delicious, nutty Sherry, echoed by pineapple gum. Orange juice is a mere background note. The vodka, unlike in my college memories, does not burn.

Similarly, the monkey wrench is more sophisticated than the description of a rum-and-coconut slushy would suggest. Creamy rather than slushy, it barely tastes sweet, brightened by a hearty helping of lime juice. Instead of a pink umbrella, a sheet of nori crowns the drink — the ultimate tropical garnish.

In the heat gun, spicy mescal and a piquant salt rim are soothed by aloe. (By the way: This is the second time in as many weeks I’ve had an aloe cocktail in San Francisco.) The mandatory Tequila-citrus item, the cat’s paw, adds quince for a delicate, mellow fruitiness to counter a sharp dash of lemon. And the maple hammer, this menu’s dark-bitter-spiritous entry, is rich in flavor, with the deep notes of maple and walnut trailing the finish.

How should we feel when fancy bars replace grungy dives? It’s hard to see Biig, at the intersection of Turk and Taylor streets in the...

A surf bar is often an excuse for an interior decorating fiasco, but White Cap stops short of being gimmicky. The only evidence of the sport is an abstract art piece on the wall, forged from a surfboard by Los Angeles artist Jesse Simon. The walls are otherwise bare, and the color scheme is austere — with the exception of the bright teal seats. In the afternoon, customers can be spotted with laptops. There is one small fireplace. At the risk of parodying a surfer, I’ll come out and say it: The place feels chill.

The Heat Gun made with mezcal, Sherry, aloe and lime at the White Cap in the Outer Sunset.

Photo: Michael Short, Special to The Chronicle

Or, in other words: White Cap is a great bar that doesn’t make a big deal out of being a great bar. And it’s a high-quality addition to the neighborhood that’s nevertheless aware of its outsider status. Yturria knows that in the close-knit Outer Sunset, even a surfer, even someone who’s lived in San Francisco for 21 years, isn’t quite a local. And he’s OK with it. He’s just happy to make you a good drink.

Esther Mobley joined The Chronicle in 2015 as its wine, beer and spirits writer. Previously she was an assistant editor at Wine Spectator magazine in New York, and before that an intern for Wine Enthusiast magazine. Esther has worked two harvest seasons, at Round Pond Estate in Napa Valley and Bodega Rolland in Mendoza, Argentina, as well as in wine retail and fine dining in her hometown of Boston. She studied English literature at Smith College.